Exhaustion is a gradual process in which a person detaches from professional and other meaningful relationships due to prolonged stress or physical, mental or emotional exertion.
The result is a reduction in productivity, cynicism, confusion and the feeling of no longer being able to give.
Contents
Physical, mental and emotional exhaustion.
1. Perhaps the person continues to work or attend school, but often spends the evening stretched out on the sofa eating ready meals while watching TV.
One tries to abandon responsibility, because one thinks that one has no authority or is not able to plan one’s own life.
2. Cynicism and callousness. In response to a persistent feeling of insecurity or vulnerability, some people develop a negative attitude with lack of feelings and criticism towards others.
Often this strategy works for a short time. You become sufficiently disgusting and other people begin to avoid you.
But this outer armor can become a difficult and counterproductive strategy.
3. Failure, impotence and crisis. Being a slave in a family environment often marks the final stage.
The situation can get complicated, whether you leave the family or continue living with your closest relatives.
Exhaustion is like trying to run a marathon at maximum speed non-stop.
You can’t always walk, sooner or later the body gives up and eventually the mind does.
These are the first signs of burnout:
1. High levels of stress or anxiety. The feeling of floating frequently and feeling the adrenaline flowing through the body.
2. Lack of commitment. You don’t feel motivated to work. Difficulty concentrating or even staying alert for a short time.
3. Cynicism. The person concerned only has feelings of dislike or detachment. One can notice a negative and cynical behavior. A feeling of being easily irritable and defensive or dependent on others.
If the person feels very averse to others, there is a possibility that one does not meet the needs or develops fatigue.
4. Eat while you are engaged in another activity. You eat your meals in front of the computer, the TV or while you travel (in the car, on foot, etc.)
5. Not getting enough sleep. The recommended minimum time for sleep is seven to eight hours per night. If you sleep less for long periods of time, you risk a certain amount of exhaustion.
6. Low energy and fatigue. You are tired. It’s not just drowsiness and fatigue, but emotional exhaustion. The person may feel dull at the end of the day without having the energy left to exercise, exercise, or socialize. He just feels the need to stretch out and watch TV or rest in some other way.
7. Never have enough time. A person under exhaustion is always in a hurry and never enough time for all the activities he wants to do during the day.
8. Excessive worry and high self-criticism. It is not possible to get out of the mental state in which the person remains exhausted without having disturbing thoughts. Because when they pass, new ones appear.
The critical voice in your head is very loud and says that you always have to do more, work more and that the results achieved are not of interest, because you never get enough anyway.
9. Physical illness. At the beginning, the physical symptoms may be mild. One may have headaches, a persistent cold, stomach pain, or often a weakened immune system. If early signs are ignored, the body can develop discomfort and a serious diagnosis can occur.
10. Emotional paralysis. You can develop addictive behavior. Initially, it shows up like a dependence on caffeine and/or sugar to be more concentrated when there is little energy.
As symptoms progress, signs of exhaustion may include greater dependence on medication, alcohol, convenience foods, or excessive television.
11. Indecision and inefficiency. Due to a lack of personal results, one perceives a drop in productivity and is assumed to spend too much energy on work without seeing the expected results.
12. Lack of holidays.
–Holiday. The person does not remember the last time he spent a day alone relaxing and doing nothing.
Often a person with fatigue syndrome has not taken a vacation for six or even twelve months.
– Work all day. You can have a tendency to rush to work non-stop. It can also happen that you don’t even take a break to drink a glass of water, stretch your legs, go for a walk or call a friend. This should be done at least once in 90-120 minutes, otherwise too much stress could develop.
– Pleasant activities. The exhausted person has also not done any relaxing activity in the last week (for example, a massage or wellness treatment, a bath, cooking, reading a book just for pleasure, hiking, etc.).
13. Not enough physical exercise. You don’t spend enough time doing exercises or other sports activities as you would like.
14. Lack of contact with nature. The person suffering from exhaustion spends too much time in the office, in the car or at home and does not go out into the fresh air.
Treatment and prophylaxis in case of exhaustion
Reducing stress If emotional tension is not treated properly, high levels of stress can lead to exhaustion and serious health problems. Here are some methods for reducing stress.
Practice meditation. Meditation brings many health benefits, including increased concentration, stress reduction, and a general sense of well-being and happiness. The goal of meditation is to focus 100% on one thing, like breathing or having a burning candle in the room.
In this way, this can help calm the mind and reduce stress.
A daily meditation for only 20 minutes has already shown a reduction in stress levels.
Exercises and physical activity. Many workers do a lot of physical exercises every day, because they constantly work standing up and lift things. But this type of exercise isn’t restorative like walking in the park, kayaking on the lake, or biking. Physical exercises should be good for body, mind and soul.
Healthy eating. Many people do not consider a healthy life and a balanced diet to be very important. Due to the working hours (for example, shift work) and the long work shifts, many working people often and regularly buy their meals outside vending machines or eat sugary and fatty snacks or processed foods.
Instead, it is fundamentally important to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, to get enough protein, especially to eat some types of fish such as salmon, which contains many omega-3 fatty acids.
Preventing
exhaustion If the person knows the warning signs of impending exhaustion, he must remember that it can get worse without a measure to solve the problem. But if something is done to restore the balance, one can prevent the development of exhaustion to the point of complete loss of energy.
Recommendations to avoid exhaustion.
Start the day with a relaxing ritual. Instead of jumping out of bed immediately after waking up, spend at least fifteen minutes meditating or turning to nature.
A sedentary lifestyle that many lead is stressful and not healthy at all.
Since man is a mammal (even if his brain is more developed than others), he should not live like a robot, but should occasionally return to his roots and lead a more natural lifestyle, outdoors, in places far from the city, for example, by a lake, in the mountains or in the park.
Following a healthy diet, exercising and sleeping properly.
If you eat well, exercise regularly and get enough sleep, the energy you need for work and personal and family responsibilities is sufficient.
Setting limits. Do not overload body and mind excessively. Learning to say “no” to the demands of the times. If this seems difficult, remember that saying “NO” in certain cases allows you to say “yes” to the things you really want to do.
Take a break from everyday technology every day. Plan a period of time every day in which you completely disconnect from electronic devices.
Put the laptop aside, turn off the phone and refrain from looking into the electronic mail, Facebook or WhatsApp.
Promoting the creative side. Creativity is an effective antidote to exhaustion.
Try something new, start a fun project, or resume a favorite hobby. Choose activities that are in no way connected with work.
Learning to deal with stress. If a person develops fatigue syndrome, they may feel powerless.
But he can gain much more control over stress than he can imagine.
Learning to cope with stress can help you regain your physical and mental balance.
Recovery from exhaustion Sometimes it is too late to prevent exhaustion because the person in question has already crossed the line.
In this case, it is important to take exhaustion very seriously.
Continuing one’s life without taking exhaustion into account can only lead to emotional and physical deterioration.
The recommendations for preventing fatigue are also useful at this stage, but other actions help to recover.
Recovery strategy for fatigue syndrome
1) Taking life slower
When the person has reached the final stage of exhaustion, drug treatment cannot solve the problem. You have to appeal to yourself and slow down or take a break. It is possible to refrain from some obligations and activities. Take time to rest, reflect and heal.
2) Help
With exhaustion, a natural consequence is to preserve the remaining energy by isolating yourself from others. But friends and family are very important in difficult moments.
Consult with your own relatives for support.
Just share the feelings and problem with another person. This can help reduce stress.
However, the other person should not give advice on how to “solve” the problems, but should only listen.
Opening should not be a burden for others.
In fact, most friends are flattered by confiding in them, and that will strengthen the friendship.
3) Re-evaluate goals and priorities
Exhaustion is an undeniable sign that something important is not going well in a person’s life.
Take time and think about hope, goal and dreams. Are you neglecting something that is really important?
Exhaustion can be an opportunity to rediscover things that really make you happy and make a difference in your life.
Much more information about burnout can be found under Das-Burnout-Syndrom.de including causes, phases, prevention and healing options.
